Workpiece tray of a workpiece magazine and method for computer-aided tray loading

Abstract

An optimized presentation of workpiece blanks (2) on a workpiece tray of a workpiece magazine in front of a mechanical processing device is provided, with workpiece blanks (2) distributed manually and securely on a carrier plate (1) quickly, easily and very precisely and with high repeatability with maximum functional reliability, which is achieved by applying a method for computer-aided tray loading of the workpiece tray and by providing the surface of the carrier plate (1) with a plurality of openings (3) arranged in regular rows and columns of equal spacing and size, as well as with a plurality of workpiece spacers (4-7).which are equipped with locking elements (9) extending downwards from their undersides (8) into openings (3) and which have upwardly directed support surfaces (10-13) for corner or edge partial support surfaces of the workpiece blanks (2) and vertically extending spacer blocks (31-34) or edge blocks (30) between them, which in turn have lateral positioning surfaces (14-20) for the workpiece blanks (2).

Description

The invention relates to a workpiece tray of a workpiece magazine of a mechanical processing device with workpiece blanks manually placed on a carrier plate and a method for computer-aided tray loading according to the preambles of the first and thirteenth patent claims. A method and a device for the semi-automated loading of a machine tool are known, DE 10 2004 054 247 C5, in which, after a workpiece is placed on a transport device, it is transported into a workpiece holding position, then gripped by a workpiece gripper and moved by it into the working area of ​​a machine tool, whereupon the machining of the workpiece takes place. The disadvantage here is the mechanical effort required to transport a workpiece blank to the processing machine. The object of the invention is to provide an optimized presentation of workpiece blanks in front of a machining center, wherein a presentation on a workpiece tray of a workpiece magazine should be quick, easy and very precise and with high repeatability with maximum functional reliability, as well as a maximum number of workpiece blanks should be optimally distributed and securely arranged on the workpiece tray. The solution to this problem is achieved according to the invention in conjunction with the features of the preambles of the first and 13th claims in connection with their characterizing features, in that the surface of the support plate of the workpiece tray is provided with a plurality of openings arranged in regular rows and columns with equal spacing and size, as well as with a plurality of workpiece spacers which are equipped with locking elements extending downwards from their undersides into the openings and which have upwardly directed support surfaces for corner or edge partial contact surfaces of the workpiece blanks, as well as vertically extending spacer blocks or edge blocks in between which have lateral positioning surfaces for the workpiece blanks.The workpiece spacers, together with the workpiece tray's support plate, form a plug-in mechanism, allowing multiple workpiece blanks to be easily positioned at pre-selected intervals on a workpiece tray. The spacing between them is always maintained, enabling a robot arm to grasp these workpiece blanks one after the other and feed them into a machining process, such as milling. In milling, the workpiece blanks are clamped in a vise and machined. Afterward, the machined workpiece blanks can be placed back onto the workpiece tray by the robot arm or conveyed further from the milling machine by other means.Because the workpiece blanks partially rest on the workpiece spacers, they are advantageously fixed by their own weight in addition to the locking of the locking elements in the openings of the workpiece tray. Further advantageous embodiments of the subject matter of the invention result from and in combination with the following dependent claims. According to a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention, mounting ramps adjoin the positioning surfaces upwards, so that when manually loading the support plate of the workpiece tray with several workpiece blanks onto and between the workpiece spacers, a significant simplification is achieved, especially with heavier workpiece blanks, which are thereby immediately inserted into their correct position on the support plate of the workpiece tray. To guide, for example, the outer corner of a workpiece blank securely, a workpiece spacer has two mutually directed positioning surfaces, wherein the inner corner between the angled positioning surfaces advantageously corresponds to the angle of an outer corner of a workpiece blank, so that it can be held there without play. Preferably, a partial circle recess is also provided between two angled positioning surfaces of a workpiece spacer to receive a corner edge of the outer corner of a workpiece blank, so that it is not held at its corner, but over a larger area on the side surfaces of the corner, so that the workpiece spacers and the workpiece blanks are subjected only to low surface pressures instead of high point or line loads. Because the workpiece spacers have upward-facing support surfaces for the workpiece blanks, the weight of the workpiece blanks is advantageously used to hold the workpiece spacers with their locking elements in the openings, without the need for further complex mechanical locking mechanisms, which can also be provided, for example, especially in the case of small corner holders, which can also be provided with through-holes through which screws can be inserted to fasten the workpiece spacer to the surface of the carrier plate via a screw thread. Advantageously, the workpiece spacers are designed in various versions, such as single corner holders, double side holders or triple, quadruple or multiple center holders, so that the distances of the workpiece blanks can be placed next to and behind each other on a workpiece tray as desired. Preferably, the spacer blocks or edge blocks of the workpiece spacers have a maximum height of up to half the height of the workpiece blanks, so that they cannot tip over even when a robot arm picking up the workpiece tray and moving it to a place in a workpiece magazine is subjected to high acceleration. According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, all workpiece spacers for workpiece blanks with identical or similar dimensional ranges of their contact surfaces are colored as a separate holder group in a color different from that used for holder groups of workpiece spacers for workpiece blanks with differing identical or similar dimensional ranges. This makes it very easy to distinguish the workpiece spacers that a person places on the workpiece tray and to identify and process them without errors. The indexing elements of the workpiece spacers are preferably cylindrical in shape and the openings are designed as round blind or through holes that have the same diameter as the indexing elements, whereby variants of workpiece magazines with openings designed crosswise as slots and indexing elements designed as crosses or other variants with further plug-in systems can also be used. Advantageously, the locking elements are one-piece, but they can also be multi-piece, with or without locking lugs for openings with or without undercuts, so that the inventive carrier plate of the workpiece tray can be adapted to a variety of requirements. A particularly preferred embodiment of the workpiece tray support plate with workpiece spacers made of 3D-printed material allows new workpiece spacers to be quickly and easily adapted to new shapes of workpiece blanks, ensuring that they can always be placed securely and accurately on a workpiece tray. Advantageously, the workpiece spacers have access recesses in their underside that serve as an aid for assembly or disassembly, as well as saving material. For the inventive new method for computer-aided tray loading of a workpiece tray, which provides a solution to the described technical problem by technical means via its software, the dimensions of the carrier plate and the openings with their arrangement therein are stored in a programmable memory, as are the type and shape of the workpiece spacers with their locking elements, spacer blocks and edge blocks of the various holder groups, as well as the possible size dimensions of the workpiece blanks to be processed, so that only the width and depth dimensions of currently identical workpiece blanks to be processed need to be entered via a computer input device, whereupon the computer program determines the optimal number of workpiece blanks per carrier plate, as well as the holder group and the selection and placement of the various workpiece spacers of this holder group.wherein the result is displayed on a technical means for displaying information and / or a device-specific display, after which the carrier plate is then manually fitted by a person with the calculated workpiece spacers of a holder group at the specified locations and subsequently with the workpiece blanks. For machining tall workpiece blanks with a height greater than their width and depth, the height is additionally entered via the input device. The computer program then advantageously selects and displays a different holder group with higher edge and spacer blocks. This prevents the workpiece blanks from tipping over on the workpiece tray during subsequent repositioning of the workpiece tray, even with higher lateral accelerations from the robot arm. The computer program preferentially selects an arrangement of workpiece spacers that are symmetrically positioned along a central axis of the carrier plate and a base row of the carrier plate facing a robot arm. This is because the robot arm couples to the carrier plate laterally in the direction of the central axis and moves the fully loaded workpiece tray to a storage position in a workpiece magazine, allowing access to it after processing previous workpiece trays. The selected arrangement thus minimizes the resulting leverage and bending moments around an axis of the robot arm and perpendicular to it. An embodiment of the invention is described in more detail below with reference to the drawings, which show: Reference symbol list: 1 Carrier plate 2 Workpiece blank 3 Opening 4 Workpiece spacer 5 Workpiece spacer 6 Workpiece spacer 7 Workpiece spacer 8 Underside 9 Locking element 10 Support surface 11 Support surface 12 Support surface 13 Support surface 14 Positioning surface 15 Positioning surface 16 Positioning surface 17 Positioning surface 18 Positioning surface 19 Positioning surface 20 Positioning surface 21 Pitch circle recess 22 Mounting chamfer 23 Mounting chamfer 24 Mounting chamfer 25 Mounting chamfer 26 Mounting chamfer 27 Mounting chamfer 28 Mounting chamfer 29 Through recess 30 Edge block 31 Spacer block 32 Spacer block 33 Spacer block 34 Spacer block 35 Screw thread 36 External corner 37 Access recess 38 Center axis 39 Base row Fig. 1 shows the support plate of a workpiece tray with workpiece blanks mounted on it in a three-dimensional view, Fig. 2 shows a workpiece magazine similar to Fig. 1 without workpiece blanks, Fig. 3 shows a single corner holder in a three-dimensional view, Fig. 4 shows the single corner holder of Fig. 3 in a top view, Fig. 5 shows a double side holder in a three-dimensional view from an oblique top view, Fig. 6 shows the double side holder of Fig. 5 in a top view, Fig. 7 shows a second double side holder in a three-dimensional view from an oblique front view, Fig. 8 shows the second double side holder of Fig. 7 in a top view, Fig. 9 shows a quadruple center holder in a side 3D view, and Fig. 10 shows the quadruple center holder of Fig. 9 in a top view. The workpiece tray of a workpiece magazine essentially consists, as shown in Fig. 2, of a carrier plate 1 with openings 3 arranged in regular rows and columns of equal spacing and size in its surface, which are designed as blind holes or through holes, wherein screw threads 35 for fastening the workpiece spacers 4-7, which may be provided with through holes 29, can be arranged in the four corner areas of the carrier plate 1 between the openings 3. The workpiece spacers 4-7 are designed in various embodiments, such as single corner holders, double side holders, or quadruple center holders, so that, as shown in Fig. 1, workpiece blanks 2 placed between them are positioned securely and uniformly spaced apart from one another via their corner or edge areas of their partial contact surfaces. Spacer blocks (31-34) or edge blocks (30) of the workpiece spacers (4-7) with different height dimensions, which can extend up to half the height of the workpiece blanks (2), but can optionally or as required also be designed to be taller, are not shown in the drawing. The workpiece spacers (4-7) of workpiece blanks (2) with identical or similar dimensional ranges of their contact surfaces and possibly different height dimensions are divided into separate holder groups, with each holder group being colored in a different color, which is also not shown in the drawing. The workpiece spacers 4-7 have locking elements 9 extending downwards from their undersides 8 into the openings 3. These locking elements are cylindrical in shape, as shown in Figures 3, 7, and 9, with at least two such locking elements 9 being provided on each underside 8. Additionally, the undersides 8 can be provided with access recesses 37, as shown in Figures 7 and 9, which serve as a disassembly aid and to save material. The workpiece spacers 4-7 further have upwardly directed support surfaces 10-13 for partial contact surfaces of the workpiece blanks 2 at the corners or edges, so that these are fixed to the workpiece spacers 4-7 by their own weight. The possible design of the locking elements 9 in multi-part form, with or without locking lugs, for openings 3 with or without undercuts is also included in the scope of protection of the patent claims. Between the lateral support surfaces 10-13 for the workpiece blanks 2, spacer blocks 31-34 or edge blocks 30 with lateral positioning surfaces 14-20 for the workpiece blanks 2 are provided, wherein the workpiece spacers 5, 6, which are designed as double side supports, are equipped with spacer blocks 31, 32 with lateral distances A, B from parallel positioning surfaces 14-20, which correspond to the same distance A, B of the positioning surfaces 14-20 of the workpiece spacer 7 designed as a quadruple center support, so that the workpiece blanks 2 can be arranged in parallel, equally spaced rows and columns on the workpiece tray. The positioning surfaces 14-20 of the workpiece spacers 4-7 are followed by upwardly directed mounting ramps 22-28 to simplify the insertion of the workpiece blanks 2 between the workpiece spacers 4-7. Between two mutually angled positioning surfaces 4-20 of an outer corner 36 of a workpiece blank 2, the inner corner is equipped with a pitch circle recess 21 for receiving a corner edge of the outer corner 36 of a workpiece blank 2, so that it is not supported at its outer corners 36, but directly to the side of these corners, which reduces the mechanical load on a workpiece blank and also on the workpiece spacers 4-7. The workpiece spacers 4-7 are made of 3D-printed material, especially plastic, and can be quickly and cheaply adapted to other geometries of workpiece blanks 2 and reprinted, whereby a center support could, for example, have fewer or more than four support surfaces. The workpiece blanks 2 are arranged symmetrically around a central axis 38 and starting from a base row 39 near a robot arm of openings 3 in the carrier plate 1. QUOTES INCLUDED IN THE DESCRIPTION This list of documents cited by the applicant was automatically generated and is included solely for the reader's convenience. The list is not part of the German patent or utility model application. The DPMA accepts no liability for any errors or omissions. Cited patent literature DE 10 2004 054 247 C5

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Claims

Workpiece tray of a workpiece magazine of a mechanical processing device with workpiece blanks (2) manually placed on a carrier plate (1), characterized in that the surface of the carrier plate (1) is provided with a plurality of openings (3) arranged in regular rows and columns of equal spacing and size, and with a plurality of workpiece spacers (4-7) which are equipped with locking elements (9) extending downwards from their undersides (8) into openings (3), and which the workpiece spacers (4-7) have upwardly directed support surfaces (10-13) for corner or edge partial contact surfaces of the workpiece blanks (2), and spacer blocks (31-34) or edge blocks (30) extending vertically between them, which in turn have lateral positioning surfaces (14-20) for the workpiece blanks (2). Workpiece tray of a workpiece magazine according to claim 1, characterized in that mounting ramps (22-28) adjoin the positioning surfaces (14-20) upwards. Workpiece tray of a workpiece magazine according to one of the two preceding claims, characterized in that two positioning surfaces (14-20) are aligned at an angle to each other corresponding to an outer corner (36) of a workpiece blank (2). Workpiece tray of a workpiece magazine according to claim 3, characterized in that an inner corner between two angled positioning surfaces (14-20) is equipped with a partial circle recess (21) for receiving a corner edge of the outer corner (36) of a workpiece blank (2). Workpiece tray of a workpiece magazine according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the workpiece spacers (4-7) are designed differently as single corner holders (4), double side holders (5,6) or triple or multiple center holders (7). Workpiece tray of a workpiece magazine according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the spacer blocks (31-34) or edge blocks (30) of the workpiece spacers (4-7) have a maximum height of up to half the height of the workpiece blanks (2). Workpiece tray of a workpiece magazine according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that all workpiece spacers (4-7) of workpiece blanks (2) with identical or similar dimensional ranges of their contact surfaces are colored as a separate holder group in a color that is different from that for workpiece spacers (4-7) of workpiece blanks (2) with differing identical or similar dimensional ranges. Workpiece tray of a workpiece magazine according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the locking elements (9) are circular cylindrical and the openings (3) are designed as round blind or through holes of the same diameter. Workpiece tray of a workpiece magazine according to claim 8, characterized in that the locking elements (9) are designed in one or more parts, with or without locking lugs for openings (3) provided with or without undercuts. Workpiece tray of a workpiece magazine according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the workpiece spacers (4-7) have through openings (29) for screws and the workpiece tray (1) has screw threads (35) in its surface for fastening the workpiece spacers (4-7). Workpiece tray of a workpiece magazine according to one of the aforementioned claims, characterized in that the workpiece spacers (4-7) are made of 3D printed material. Workpiece tray of a workpiece magazine according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the workpiece spacers (4-7) are equipped with access recesses (37) on their flat workpiece holder underside (8). A method for computer-aided tray loading of a workpiece tray according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the dimensions of the carrier plate (1) and the openings (3) with their arrangement therein are stored in a programmable memory, as are the type and shape of the workpiece spacers (4-7) with their locking elements (9), spacer blocks (31-34) and edge blocks (30) of the various holder groups, as well as the possible dimensions of the workpiece blanks (2) to be processed, and that only the dimensions of currently to be processed identical workpiece blanks (2) are entered via an input device, whereupon the computer program determines the optimal number of workpiece blanks (2) per carrier plate (1), as well as the holder group and the selection and placement of the various workpiece spacers (4-7), wherein the result is displayed on a technical means for displaying information and / or a display.according to which the carrier plate (1) is fitted by hand with the calculated workpiece spacers (4-7) of a holder group at the specified locations and then with the workpiece blanks (2). Method according to claim 13, characterized in that for the machining of tall workpiece blanks (2) with a height dimension greater than their width and depth dimension, their height is additionally entered via the input device and that the computer program selects and displays a holder group with higher edge blocks (30) and spacer blocks (31). Method according to claim 14 or 15, characterized in that the computer program selects an arrangement of the workpiece spacers (4-7) which are symmetrically assigned to a central axis (38) of the carrier plate (1) and to a base row (39) of the carrier plate (1) facing a robot arm.

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